- MYSTERIOUS SALPALINJA - THE BIGGEST CONSTRUCTION PROJECT IN FINLAND IS UNIQUE AND FORGOTTEN MILITARY MEMORY - The strategic meaning of Salpalinja is gone. Seals on iron doors have broken and the walls of trenches are crumbling down. The restoration workers have been busy at some parts of the fortification and tradition and history enthusiasts have been also active. There has been voluntary work in the boroughs and huge sums of money have been spent. But waking up the tourists to understand the huge scale of Salpalinja and to understand it's demanding construction work, during a war time, seems to be difficult. Still the fortification is unique, the biggest single construction work ever made in Finland. The longest consistent fortification line in the world. The French Maginot-line or the German West-Wall doesn't match for Salpalinja. Desperately someone has calculated that in proportion of population, building the Great Wall of China, would have been an easier task. One could also brag that the Great Wall of China is the only visible part on earth, to the space, because most of the Salpalinja has been built underground. - The sturdy rock fortification and it's surroundings areas have been renovated in Miehikkälä. Most of the men who fought in the Karelian Isthmus during the Continuation War, marched through Miehikkälä, to face the heaviest test of their lives. During a hot summer day, is the best time to explore the fortification line and listen to the tour guide, under the steep concreted stairs: "With this A-gun, in this space, the men could have not fired too long, before they would have died to the poisonous gases that would have formed from the A-gun. There was no mechanical air conditioning in this cave." The day is hot and the air flickers. Insects are crawling around and somewhere some bird sings. Pitch smells strongly and lichen crumbles under the feet. Down under, in the caves of the fortification, it's chilly and damp. - Who would have thought, but a long time ago, well after the war, a headlamp of a single moped, got one of the superpower's to spark into action. Every time when we raised our moped to the snow embankment during a night and aimed it's modest spotlight towards east, the night wasn't so dark and quiet anymore. First the night sky was illuminated by a one single spotlight, raising above the ground. It started to curve into the north until it met another spotlight, which cut it's trajectory, until one more spotlight illuminated the sky and then there was even fourth light and the night wasn't so quiet and dark anymore. At it's best, there was so many lights in the sky, that it felt like being in a aerial warfare movie. With a good imagination, you could even hear the sound. I doubt that we ever calculated how many searchlights there were, but it wasn't just one or two, there were many of them. They were situated close to each others and us. When comparing the brightness of these searchlights to the headlamp of our mopeds, you could probably say, that even a whole moped factory couldn't compete in the brightness with these searchlights. We were excited and laughing. How can they even see a one headlamp of moped from there, well over ten kilometers away? They were probably scanning the terrain with binoculars or with something else, but they certainly had a very serious attitude towards our prank. - Perhaps the Soviet border guards were also laughing and perhaps they also didn't have much to do in the border of Finland and Soviet Union. It was fifties, my parents being evacuees from Vyborg, now living in Helsinki, I knew that no one wouldn't mind my pranks, during the winter holidays. Here in the borough, that Salpalinja cut in half, people mostly pulled their blanket over their ears, if the noise from moped started to bother them. Nobody saw the light from our mopeds, but still everybody knew that boys were sometimes communicating with the neighbor. In Soviet Union, in the old Säkkijärvi, located in the Vyborg borough, people who were in power, had only one name in this side of the border. Our parents and their friends, often talked about getting back to home, to Karelia. We often heard men talking, that even when Mannerheim-line had been penetrated and broken, Salpalinja would hold. Even Stalin had understood that. - Not a single combat was fought in Salpalinja. The closest combat actions took place few kilometers in east from Salpalinja. Still to us, the children of veterans, evacuees and war cripples were told that the work of tens of thousands of people and the billons of Finnish marks wasn't wasted. Salpalinja had done it's duty, even when they started to torn down it almost immediately. But what can you take away from a place that is mined into a rock and made out of rock? Well they took away the wooden structures and weapons, some of those were hidden. The struggle for trees and other vegetation, to get more space to live started. Elsa and Kalle had their own little hill here in Salpalinja. Their cellar was located under their kitchen window and you couldn't notice it being a bunker, before you walked into it. Shaped into a cupola form, heavily reinforced by iron and bunks for a less than ten people, told what was the purpose of this nicely blending hill in the yard of a civilian house. But when the time, when this cellar's real purpose would have been needed, never came, it served to fulfill everyday needs. The temperature inside of this bunker, was just perfect to store juices, berries, vegetables and mushrooms. Some of these were picked from the Salpalinja. The earth in Salpalinja was perfect for the cowberries and different mushrooms. During the best autumns, people were carrying cowberries and mushrooms with a laundry baskets. - The soil in Salpalinja was well stirred. Tens of tons of iron, rock and cement was dragged to this place, through forests and fields, using almost no real vehicles. The trees were cut down while building the fortification and the foreground of the fortification line, was cut down thoroughly, to provide a good field of fire. Who ever would have tried to visit, would have not found any shelter from the foreground of Salpalinja. The millions of trees that were cut down, formed the supporting elements to trenches, bridges, bunks and settlement of huts for the construction workers. Many of the rock slopes had now a different shape or were gone for good. The rocks were now located in the nearby fields and woods, forming an tank obstacles, waiting the visitor from east. In many locations, the crushed soil glitters very promisingly, but it's only a illusion, clinquant. There is much of clinquant here, illusion for the better life. - However the workers did find another thing that was valuable. Mining the spectrolite started shortly after the war in Ylämaa, near Miehikkälä. Today, spectrolite is being shipped all over the world, including also the marble Carrara in Italy, to be used as a merchandise. The neighbor in east had become familiar with this beautiful rock already well before Salpalinja was built. There is many old quarries in the shores of Virolahti. The Tsar's used granite found from Finland, to build their St. Petersburg. Impressive obelisk was also shipped from Pyterlahti, to the delta of Neva. - There has been many suggestions, concerning the preservation of Salpalinja. A long time ago, some of the men that came back from the war, thought that an opportunity to shoot with Emma and Maxim, towards east, using real bullets and from an unbreakable fortification, would drag tourists from all over the Europe, to Salpalinja. Nobody didn't dear to try this suggestion. During the recent years, paintball players have used the fortification and hiking trips, in the spirit of national defense, have gathered many people here. The men from Miehikkälä, bought the legendary Soviet tank, Sotka (T-34) to the museum many years ago. Few times during the summer, it's engines start and keep horrible noise. The soil whirl up from the tracks, near the tank obstacles. Some trees might even fall down. Few blank cartridges trembles the rocks and terrifies the people who are watching this show. However, Sotka wont try to drive through the triple tank obstacle, it always curves back to it's own place. It's place, with a red star on it, is on the eastern side of the tank obstacle. INFORMATION CORNER - Salpalinja follows the eastern border and it's about 1 200 kilometers long defensive line. - The fortification was build during the years 1940 to 1944. There is nearly four thousand constructions, including bunkers and wooden dugouts. Trenches form a network with a total length of 350 kilometers and stone obstacles a network with a total legth of over 200 kilometers. - When you arrive to Miehikkälä, from the direction of Taavetti, you get to drive a really winding road, full of small hills. Closer to the Miehikkälä, is the marsh, where they shoot part of the film Tuntematon Sotilas (Unknown Soldier) by Edwin Laine. The place is unmarked. - When approaching Virojoki, from the direction of Hamina, you can drive along the Vyborg highway, that is now protected road by a museum. It's even more winding. - You can also take the straightest route, the E18 highway, or the so-called Finnish-Russian traffic roulette road. From Virojoki, you turn towards Miehikkälä and the only nuisance on this road, are the deer's. - Among the woods, are the cemeteries of civilian workers who were brought here from the conquered areas. They are now forgotten and there are no signs leading to these cemeteries, except some signs very close to the graves that are updated very modestly. - Salpalinja doesn't have to be the only reason to head towards Miehikkälä. While biking here, you can find the old and idyllic landscape of the old Finnish films. Winding and hilly sand roads are now something that belongs to the past. - When heading back to Hamina from Miehikkälä and Salpalinja, you are heading west and if you like to head for the other direction, you need to have a visa and a passport. It's only fifty kilometers to Vyborg. To Helsinki, the distance is almost four times bigger. NOTE: If you are interested about Salpalinja (Salpa-line), be sure to check my tour on Harparskog-line: http://www.silentwall.com/Harparskog.html http://www.silentwall.com/Salpalinja.html
